1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a material processing system, a material processing method and a gas supply arrangement for the same, especially for use in methods for processing materials by material deposition from gases, such as CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition), or material removal involving supply of reactive gases. In particular, the gas reaction resulting in a material deposition or a material removal is induced by a beam of energy which is directed to a portion of the work piece to be processed. The beam of energy may in particular comprise an electron beam, a photon beam or an ion beam.
2. Brief Description of Related Art
Such a conventional system is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,055,696. In this system, plural reactive gases are selectively supplied to a processing chamber accommodating the work piece to be processed. The reaction of the reactive gases with the work piece is induced by a focused ion beam or photon beam. The thus processed work pieces comprise integrated circuits or photo masks for manufacture of integrated circuits.
The conventional system was found to be unsatisfactory as regards the accuracy with which the processing of the work pieces may be carried out. Equally, it showed that the type of the energy beam and the gas supply used in this conventional system preclude a further reduction of the dimensions of the smallest processable structures.